


Love Will Follow You Anywhere

by SpencnerTibbsLuvr (KliqzAngel)



Series: Evil Author Day 2021 [1]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV), NCIS, Queer as Folk (US)
Genre: Evil Author Day 2021, F/M, M/M, NCIS Canon Divergence, Senior Isn't Tony's Father, Tony Never Worked for NCIS, abandoned work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 05:29:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29448564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KliqzAngel/pseuds/SpencnerTibbsLuvr
Summary: When Tony left Pittsburgh, he didn't think that he'd see either of the men who had stolen his heart until the mob boss who put a hit out on him died. So, the last thing he expected was to find them in DC at Padraig McCormac's gallery. Things like that just didn't happen to him. No one loved Tony DiNozzo enough to give up their lives for him. Except apparently Brian Kinney and Justin Taylor.
Relationships: Anthony DiNozzo/Brian Kinney/Justin Taylor (Queer as Folk), Greg Sanders/Nick Stokes, Gwendolyn Gates (OFC)/Harrison Byrne (OMC)/Spencer Reid, OMC/OMC
Series: Evil Author Day 2021 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2163105
Comments: 1
Kudos: 34





	Love Will Follow You Anywhere

**Author's Note:**

> I pictured Padriag McCormac as Pierce Brosnan. A mhuirnín - Darling
> 
> This was originally one of the many stories I have started in my Tony/Brian/Justin series that just never got finished. I have finally given up getting something done with that and removed the series from the original story.
> 
> This is part of Evil Author Day. Parts of this were previously posted and are being re-posted so the full portion I have done is together. Jackson Grimes and Victor Marks were used with approval by Rivermoon1970 who created them.

_The below work is an offering for Evil Author Day 2021. These stories are incomplete, and very much rough drafts. There will be spelling errors, missing commas, bad grammar, incomplete thoughts, and plot holes to name only a few issues. The theme this year is stories I have given up on. I don't foresee anything new ever being done with any of these fics. Do NOT bug for more, beg for details, or any other such nonsense, please and thank you._

# Prologue:

January 2008

Padraig McCormac was wandering around his gallery Mínealaín supervising the paintings that were being hung for an upcoming exhibit. His wife Caterina was in the back room helping their metal artist Sean O’Grady place his pieces in the combined exhibit he was doing with another of their artists Justin Taylor. Justin worked in a wide variety of mediums, and about a year back had begun playing around more seriously with a more computer-based type art. The two artists were as thick as thieves and it was Sean that convinced Justin to give his digital work some more serious attention.

Padraig’s youngest child and the only one he had with Caterina was back there offering up her opinions, and probably needling Justin just because she could. Gwendolyn was a sculptor, and when she’d first become serious about her art, she made it clear that she would be making a name for herself on her own or not at all. Because of that, she didn’t display at the family gallery, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t hang around trying to soak up as much knowledge from the regular artists as she could. Both Justin and Sean, who worked in the gallery as assistants, looked at her as a younger sister, something that both Padraig and Caterina appreciated.

Wanting a moment of peace in the chaos, Padraig wandered toward his office for a break and was surprised when Caterina stopped him. “You need to relax, Padraig,” She insisted softly. “I know you’re nervous with both the exhibit and Gregory’s arrival, but you’re making everyone more stressed.”

“I’m sorry, A mhuirnín*,” Padraig swore letting his wife curl her smaller hand into his larger one. “I am anxious for Gregory’s arrival, and I cannot help but think of the others. Of course, I have always known he was mine, but ever since his call, I cannot help but wonder if I was wrong about Claire and Stephanie? What if all this time I’ve had three sons out in the world that I had no contact with? What kind of man does that make me? What must my sons think of me?”

“We will cross that bridge if we come to it,” Caterina stressed as she leaned into her husband to try and give him some comfort. “We do not even know if there is any foundation to your concerns. You are working yourself into a state, and do not even know if there is anything to be anxious about. You need to take a deep breath and set this worry aside until you can determine if there is even an issue.”

“How am I to do that though, Cat?” Padraig asked trying not to take his frustration out on his wife. “Jackson Grimes is not exactly someone that I can just pick up the phone and call. I may be a well-known artist, but I was not that well known. As for Claire, with her death, the only way I would have of finding her son is through her husband, and I do not think Mr. DiNozzo would appreciate me calling to see if his son is actually his.”

“You have not looked at the names Justin and Sean added to the guest list, have you, Love?” Caterina asked, and the amusement was obvious in her tone.

Padraig frowned and finished his treck to his office and after sitting down behind his desk shuffled papers around until he’d found the most recent guest lists. The last thing he expected was for Sean to have invited Jackson Grimes, and for Justin to have invited an Agent Tobias Fornell and Supervisory Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, Jr. “How…? I don’t understand. Explain this to me. How are my sons the guests of my two interns.”

Caterina laughed as she perched delicately on the edge of the desk openly smiling at her husband. “You truly need to listen when your daughter is telling you the gallery gossip. Sean met Jackson at a club a couple of weeks back. There was a band playing, I think called Shinedown, and someone who was overly inebriated pushed Sean into Jackson making your son spill his drink all down the back of Sean’s shirt. As an apology, Jackson took him out to a midnight snack, and they hit it off.”

“As for Anthony, there is some reuniting going on between him and Justin and his partner Brian,” Caterina gossiped looking somewhat more solemn. “It seems that they met Anthony, who it seems goes by Tony, previously in their hometown of Pittsburg while he was working. Justin is quite tight-lipped about the details, but according to Gwendolyn, they were forced to separate for Anthony’s safety. At some point, after Brian’s club burned down in Pittsburg, the two decided to move to the DC area so that they could hunt Anthony down and try and rekindle their previous relationship. I find it quite romantic.”

“Huh,” Padraig offered as he leaned back in his chair and watched his wife while the pieces of the puzzle combined in his head. “I do not know what to say about this. The fates are rarely so kind to me that they would grant me, my sons, back. If they are in fact my sons, I suppose. It is perfectly reasonable that their mothe4rs were telling the truth, and the boys are not mine, but I just feel in my bones that they were not. I do not know if this makes things better or worse. In one night I am getting all three of my boys back. It is hard to take in.”

“All you can do is tell them the truth, and go from there,” Caterina advised softly, “but maybe we should not foist the whole story on them that night, my love? What if I invite tell Sean and Justin to bring Jackson and Anthony to the house for our post exhibit meal? They are the only staff at the present besides you and myself, well and Gwendolyn and Harrison when they have the time. So, it would be an intimate affair. Gregory advised in his last phone call that he and Nicholas had taken some time away from their jobs and would be in the area for quite some time. So, it will be perfect.”

“And how will Sean feel about being in the middle of all of this family drama?” Padraig asked seriously. He had always treated the people who worked in his galleries like family, but Sean and Justin had found places in the family’s hearts that Padraig did not think would easily be replaced. The last thing he wanted was to make one of his pseudo sons uncomfortable.

“Knowing Sean, he will find it fascinating,” Caterina offered wryly, “and I expect that he would be fine with it if things turn out well with Jackson. Despite the hardened façade that he shows people, there is quite a sensitive and empathetic man underneath all that steel and barbs that he presents people. I believe at this point, we just need to each take a deep breath, and let things play out. The fates have presented us the opportunity to get back what may have been taken from you. It is up to us not to mess that up.”

Taking a deep breath, Padraig nodded and forced himself to focus on something else. As always, his wife was wise. She had not captured his heart where many others had failed just because she was a beautiful woman. The exhibit opened in less than a week. What was that to wait as opposed to the lifetime that he’d already waited?

# Chapter One:

Tony DiNozzo was sitting at his desk in the BAU bullpen, alone, trying to finish up his case reports while the team was on their way back. Their most recent case had taken them to Philadelphia, PA, and Aaron had been very firm in his decision about not allowing Tony to go. While the order from Don Malcuso specifically stated Pittsburg, Aaron was not about to take any chances. Tony hadn’t been happy about it, but mostly he’d understood, and stayed back connecting with the team via video conference and helping Garcia run down things for the team.

The decision to join the FBI had been the right course for Tony, and it was one of the only things he didn’t regret about how the undercover stint in Pittsburg ended. At first, Tony had joined Tobias’ team as a Probationary Agent, but quickly had worked his way up the ranks, and when an opening came in the Behavioral Analysis Unit, he’d thrown his hat into the ring with Fornell’s approval. The final decision had come down to himself and an agent named Derek Morgan, and it had been Tony’s Doctorate in Deviant Psychology along with the Major in Child Psychology that had tipped the boat.

Derek had ended up with Tony’s old position on Tobias’ team, and when the older man moved up to Section Chief, Derek had gotten the spot as Team Lead. So, in the end, things had worked out for both of them. Tony actually had eventually become good friends with Derek and played basketball with him on the weekends when they were both free at a local gym.

At first, things for Tony had been touchy in the BAU. To say that he had clashed with the remaining founding member, Jason Gideon was an understatement. It was only Tony’s ability to adapt that had kept things from being a bigger mess than they had been at times when Tony felt Jason was letting his ego get the best of him.

Between the man’s arrogance and the way the man had treated his prodigy Dr. Spencer Reid, Tony had in no way been a fan of Gideon’s and wasn’t upset when the man finally retired. In Tony’s opinion, it was long overdue, and he felt that Jason should never have been allowed back after his breakdown. Not because of some problem Tony had with the man’s mental illness, he just didn’t believe that the man had really fully recovered from it and questioned how many issues were because the man wasn’t always in control.

In the beginning, Aaron Hotchner, the current Unit Chief, and Dr. Spencer Reid, Tony’s normal field partner, were leery of Tony because of the tension between him and Gideon. Both men looked up to Jason and had been slow to warm to someone who didn’t share their feelings. The oddest part of the whole thing was the fact that Jason had been the one who suggested Tony over Derek, and while he had acknowledged the discord on occasion, hadn’t seemed to be bothered by it. Tony supposed that it wasn’t the first time the older man had worked with someone he didn’t always get along with. It certainly wasn’t Tony’s first time doing it. So, for the couple of years that they had worked together, Tony and Jason tried to keep their personal feelings about each other away from work and cases, and things had mostly worked out just fine.

Now, David Rossi was a different story. Tony and Rossi had hit it off almost immediately, and while Tony didn’t like how the veteran agent had treated Spencer either, it was for a completely different reason that why he hadn’t liked Gideon’s actions. At times, Jason almost came off as manipulative and condescending toward the young genius. Tony had known a handful of smart people in his life, but Spencer was special even amongst geniuses. So, Tony had taken issue with what he saw as his friend’s mistreatment. There was something about Spencer that gave off an air of vulnerability that often masked the spine of steel the young genius had. It had been obvious immediately that Spencer idolized Gideon, and Tony had almost right away been concerned how the young man would take it when Gideon eventually flaked out.

Rossi just didn’t get Spencer. He also had no clue about what it meant to work as a team or the strength and advantage you got from having someone like Spencer on your team. Once he got on board with it, granted after some ‘pull your head out of your ass you dinosaur’ lectures from both Tony and Aaron, things were fine. Dave and Reid would probably never be BFFs, but the veteran profiler at least now better understood the younger profiler and bought into the advantage that he gave the team. Tony was less worried about how Spencer would take Rossi’s eventual second retirement, mostly because of the lack of almost too close connection to Dave like he had with Gideon.

After Elle Greenaway left the team and was replaced by Emily Prentiss, everything felt better. Prentiss was practically Tony’s soul sister, whereas Tony had always felt something of a conflict with Elle and therefore had never been able to feel comfortable with her. Penelope Garcia was like a cotton candy covered poison apple. She was awesome and bubbly and flirty until you pissed her off or hurt someone that she cared about. Once that happened, the gloves came off and she would come after you with a ruthlessness that betrayed her time prior to the BAU. While Tony loved Garcia, for the most part, and in a totally platonic way, there were things she did and had done that he wasn’t completely comfortable with.

She had only just started speaking to him again after he’d interfered in her little date with the helpless hottie she’d met in the café. Tony wasn’t sure if she’d been more pissed at him because he’d ruined the date or the fact that the asshole had been trying to set her up so he could kill her the entire time. JJ had been all on Garcia’s side until the truth came out and then had apologized for the accusations she’d made when she accused Tony of sticking his nose where it didn’t belong.

Tony and JJ had something of a love/hate relationship. While he cared about her as he did all of his teammates, he didn’t think that he’d ever be as close to her as he was to Emily. Every once and awhile JJ, who served as the team’s public relations woman, would slip into her ‘mean girl’ past, which totally put Tony off. While there had been moments in Tony’s childhood and teenage years where he didn’t step in and help when he maybe should have, Tony had never resorted to bullying and bullies were something that really put him off. Spencer though really liked JJ and viewed her as one of his closest friends, so for Reid’s sake, Tony tolerated JJ and tried not to create a fuss when she acted up.

As he finished up the report he was working on, Tony’s thoughts were forced away from his musings and onto the subject that he had been trying to avoid. That of Brian Kinney and Justin Taylor. The men that owned Tony’s heart, but he’d been forced to leave behind. The men that Tony didn’t think he’d ever fully get over.

Before Tony met Brian and Justin, he’d been very committed to hiding half of his sexual orientation mostly for his own safety. However, after spending quality time in Brian’s presence, and being constantly reminded of Brian’s ‘be the best homosexual you can be’ motto left little room for hiding anything. Not to mention, that after having been forced to leave the ones he loved behind to save himself, it felt like it would dishonor the feelings that he had for the two men to hide that part of himself any longer. Joining the FBI had certainly helped accomplish that. While the FBI wasn’t completely homophobia free, it was definitely safer than a Police Department would be, and Tobias Fornell wouldn’t tolerate any kind of prejudice from any of his team.

Sitting back in his chair, Tony closed his eyes for a moment, and let himself wallow for a brief moment in the pain of separation and longing. He missed Justin Taylor and Brian Kinney almost more than he’d miss a limb if one was removed. He met the two men while undercover in Pittsburg trying to take down a mob family that had infiltrated the local PD going as far as the Sherriff Stockwell. A dirty cop was not one of his favorite things to play, and a dirty, ruthless cop was even less of a favorite. He’d done it though, and along the way had met Brian and Justin.

At the time, Brian Kinney had been a part of the advertising campaign for Stockwell, who was running for mayor. Brian had checked his morals at the door and struggled with the benefits that he’d reap if the man won versus the morality of trying to get a man elected who hated every aspect of Brian’s very being. Stockwell had been as homophobic as they came but was even more shrewd and greedy. So, he’d swallowed his slurs, sometimes not so much on that front, and insisted on a gay advertising guru to run his campaign. This way when people accused him of being homophobic, he could just point to Brian to “prove” them wrong.

It had been all a big mess, and a lot harder for Brian than he let on to most of the people in his life, who assumed he was just a sell-out and mostly turned on him. Tony made his way into Don Malcuso’s inner-circle fairly easily and had found himself placed with Stockwell to assist the man in getting elected, as well as oversee the shady things the Don had the local cops doing with Stockwell’s approval. Tony had learned long ago that there were some people that were a lot harder to trick than others, and that person in that particular undercover assignment had been Brian Kinney.

Eventually, the man caught on enough that Tony maybe wasn’t the shity, corrupt dirtbag that he was pretending to be, and ended up reporting anything he could on Stockwell. Fortunately for Kinney, he’d never become wrapped up with the Malcuso Family, which probably saved his life when everything came to a head. Still, the information he was able to provide on Jim helped considerably, and if along the way Brian and Tony became more attached than Tony should have allowed, well it was only themselves they were hurting. Then, of course, there was Justin Taylor, Brian’s boyfriend.

Justin was truly a ray of sunshine in a fairly dark time in Tony’s life. He was like the only shining light in an otherwise completely black environment, and Tony fell hard and fast, which amusingly enough only bright him that much closer to Brian. Justin Taylor was an (age) year old college student at Pittsburg Institute of Fine Art, and unbelievably talented. He’d refused to be anything other than himself, for most of his life, and because of it had suffered terrible bullying at the Private School he attended for High School.

Justin was also one of the most honest and frank people that Tony had ever met, as well as being loving and empathetic, and insightful and a host of other things that didn’t fit his age. Brian always joked that Justin was the most mature person in his little circle of friends, despite being the youngest, and Tony readily agreed with him. There had been hours spent with Justin talking about any random topic that came up, as well as many more hours tangled in the sheets of Brian’s bed with the three of them wrapped up around each other.

When the end came, it was painful for them all. Brian had a look of betrayal on his face that Tony still had nightmares about. Despite the fact that the other man had suspicions that Tony wasn’t who he said that he was, there was a look of betrayal when Tony finally confessed that he wasn’t actually Antony Norse, and was, in fact, an undercover cop. The fact that Tony had to leave town almost immediately, to uphold the agreement with Don Malcuso that saved not only his own life but ensured that neither the old man or anyone in his Family would go after Brian and Justin in retribution. It might have been the hardest thing Tony ever did.

When Tony drove off in the passenger’s seat of Fornell’s FBI sedan, Tony knew that he’d never be able to go back. Along with that was his personal belief that he’d never see either Brian or Justin again. It was a pain that stayed with Tony right up to the present. He was confident that his time with Justin and Brian was the closest he’d ever come in his life to experiencing what it actually meant to be loved and love back in return. So, things in his life had been different from that point forward.

The biggest part had been the no hiding who he was, and while a large part of that was his bisexuality, with a stronger lean towards men than women, it wasn’t just that. Downplaying his intelligence had been put aside. Not always and completely of course, because over the years, Tony had found the dumb cop to be a valuable investigative tool. In his everyday life though, and certainly where his work colleagues were concerned, Tony didn’t play the idiot any longer. He learned to take pride in his degrees, and always managed to find the time to take at least one class a year, but often it was more like once a semester. He refused to bow down to someone just because they supposedly had more experience than he did. In Tony’s mind, he’d been doing undercover work since he could walk. One of the first things you learned with an abusive, alcoholic father and an alcoholic mother was how to hide certain things and how to read people and situations. So, he refused to act like he knew less about his job than some people wanted to believe.

Which led him back to Jason Gideon, and this time Tony shook his head and with a mental heave shoved all thoughts of the aggravating man back into his mental box. Jason was gone, and Tony personally hoped that he never came back, despite the fact that he knew both Aaron and Spencer missed him. It was Tony’s belief that the man was no longer a positive in anyone’s life, except maybe his son’s whom Tony sincerely hoped Gideon managed to heal his relationship with and thought it best for everyone at the BAU that the veteran just stays the fuck away.

He was just about to dig back into his report, when he noticed Tobias Fornell, his friend, and former boss, coming through the doors to the BAU’s section of the floor.

“DiNozzo! Wrap up whatever you’re doing,” Tobias ordered with a smirk on his face and wearing one of his nicer suits. “We have places to go and people to see.”]

“No can do, Toby,” Tony threw back with a smile. He loved the verbal sparring he got to indulge in when Tobias reappeared. The man was a huge influence in his life, and Tony would never forget that. “I have reports to wrap up for the last case. The team is driving back because the jet is grounded at the moment, but I want my stuff done by the time they get home so I can help out in other areas. So, you’ll have to find another wingman to draw in the ladies for you.”

“Too bad, so sad,” Tobias snarked in return with a grin of his own. “Hotch is well aware of tonight’s activities and says anything outstanding can be finished tomorrow. He also said feel free to text him if you want, Dave is driving.”

Tony’s eyes narrowed in suspicion and was about to reply when his phone beeped. Picking it up off the desk, he activated the screen to see that he’d gotten a text from the very man they were discussing. That man was freaking scary sometimes in his timing.

You better not still be there. I will check the logs to make sure you left with SSA Fornell. Feel free to come in late in the morning if you need it. Have fun! – Hotch

Tony’s head cocked to one side as he considered the text as his curiosity as to what was going on started to ramp up. Shoving the phone in his pocket, and starting to neaten up his desk, then close programs down, because he knew better than to test Aaron as Tony was aware the man would indeed check the logs as he threatened. Tony glanced up at Tobias who was wearing a grin that was becoming more and more suspicious. “Ok, Toby, what’s up.”

“Sorry, kid, that’s for me to know and you to figure out,” Toby threw back gleefully, “now hurry up ‘because we have somewhere to be.”

Knowing he wouldn’t get any more information from the stubborn man; Tony shoved his badge onto his inner suit coat pocket and slipped his gun into its shoulder holster before turning everything off and following Fornell out. He had no clue where they were going, but he definitely wanted to find out.

~*~~*~ ~*~~*~ ~*~~*~

Tony’s curiosity kept him compliant and happy right up until the second that he realized where he was going. The second that Tobias headed toward the door of Mínealaín Gallery, Tony stopped moving and started at both the man and the building. There were two things that Tony had cut out of his life completely, post-Brian and Justin. One was dance clubs, specifically gay dance clubs. Babylon in Pittsburg had been Brian Kinney’s kingdom, and Tony couldn’t step through the door of a dance club anywhere and not think of the look of bliss on the man’s face as he was dancing on the dance floor, not completely in rhythm, head tilted back, eyes closed, and arms wrapped around Justin’s shoulders. The only other place you saw that look was when the three of them were alone in Brian’s loft wrapped around each other on his bed making love.

The other thing Tony had cut out of his life were art galleries, which sucked because it meant that his own drawings were kept to himself, whereas pre-Justin and Brian, Tony had displayed it quite frequently, just not under his own name. The problem was though that when he thought of art, he thought of Justin. Tony knew that he was good enough that he could make a few things a year that were maybe good enough to show in a gallery and make a few extra bucks. Maybe if he put more time and effort into it, he could be better than that. However, for Tony, drawing had never been more than something he did to make himself happy, and to release the stress that life that been throwing at him. In Tony’s mind, he was a cop who dabbled in drawing.

Justin though was an artist. He wasn’t something else that painted and drew. Justin was an artist the way Tony was a cop. It was something in his blood. Something that he’d been born to do, and the young man had more talent in his pinky than Tony ever dreamed of having. Art galleries were something the two of them enjoyed together.

Sometimes, Brian would come along and bitch the whole time to try and make them think that he didn’t want to be there, and sometimes he really didn’t want to be there and just didn’t come. Since both Justin and Tony saw right through Brian Kinney, they knew the difference between each and took Brian’s bitching when he accompanied them with a smile and an eye roll. Art galleries though had been something special to share with Justin, and without him, Tony had no interest in suffering the pain of being there and not having Justin by his side.

“Toby,” DiNozzo growled softly and the older Italian held his hands up in a plea for patience and understanding. “You know I don’t go to art galleries, and you know why. What the fuck are you doing dragging me here.”

“I need you to trust me right now, (word of friendship in Italian),” Tobias begged as he came back toward Tony. “I do know and understand why you avoid art galleries like the plague, despite what an amazing artist you are yourself. Originally, Spencer and Aaron were gonna bring you here, but then the case came up, and I decided to just do it myself. I don’t want to say why, because I don’t want to ruin the surprise, but you really need to go through those doors.”

“Toby,” was growled again, but this time weaker, as Tony thought through the man’s words. He knew Tobias would never put him in a position where he’d be hurt deliberately. Therefore, he must have a damned good reason for bringing him to a place that would most likely crush his heart. “I swear to a God I don’t believe in…”

“You won’t regret it,” Tobias promised as he turned and started back through the door. Once there, the older man opened it and motioned toward it, trying to get Tony to make the final decision to enter. “Now chop, chop! There are people waiting for you in there.”

Taking a deep breath, Tony gave himself a quick pep talk, and a promise of a night with his favorite scotch if this didn’t go well and took the plunge. Crossing the sidewalk, Tony gave Fornell one last glare before he stepped inside letting the atmosphere of the gallery hit him. Immediately, his heart began to hurt, and he knew, no matter what Tobias insisted, that this was gonna be bad.

# Chapter Two

“Come on, Tony step in further, other people gotta get in,” Tobias urged from behind him, and DiNozzo allowed himself to be urged forward from where he was almost rooted to the tile floor.

“Welcome to Mínealaín Gallery,” a young man with white blond hair greeted him with a smile. “Do you have invitations for this evening’s exhibit?”

Tobias came from behind Tony, and the younger Italian found himself studying what he could see of the gallery around him. He had to admit that he liked what little he could see from the entrance, and he felt a small surge of excitement from somewhere inside of him, escaping from where he’d locked all of his art feelings away at. Mostly though, he just felt trepidation, and a sensation of wrongness at not having Justin’s excited whispering in his ear, and the feel of the younger man’s hand wrapped up with his own.

“Come on, Tony,” Tobias prodded once more, and Tony allowed himself to be led deeper into the gallery. Before he’d gotten too far though, he heard the sound of a familiar voice from behind him.

“DiNozzo!” Had him turning with a frown of surprise and allowed himself to smile when his gaze landed on Jackson Grimes who was just handing his coat off to someone lurking next to the greeter at the door. “I thought you were on a self-imposed exile from all things art. If I’d known you were interested I would have suggested we come together.”

Tony felt himself relax a little as he greeted Jax with a hug that he held onto a little longer than may have been necessary, but feelings were starting to build, and he needed the comfort of a true friend. While he liked and respected Tobias, and even saw him as a mentor, Jackson Grimes was one of Tony’s truly close friends in the world.

The Tech company owner was the best friend of Tony’s boss Aaron Hotchner. The two had known each other forever. Hotch introduced Tony and Jax at one of the gatherings at Aaron and Haley’s house, and the two men had hit it off almost immediately. So, while he knew this night was going to be hard, it maybe wouldn’t be as bad as it could have been knowing that Jackson was there, too.

“I was kidnapped,” Tony quipped, but knew that Jax would see the anxiety under the attempt at humor. “I was in the bullpen minding my own business when Fornell kidnapped me against my will. You’d think an FBI agent would know better.”

Tony didn’t need to see Tobias’ face to know there was an eyeroll that followed his words, and the snort that was heard was all the confirmation he needed. “What are you doing here? I thought you were out in Cali getting that new project off the ground.”

“Got that wrapped up enough that I passed it off to Roger,” Jackson explained with a grin. “I’m actually dating one of the artists here tonight. So, I had to make sure I was back for this.”

“You?” Tony asked overplaying his shock as his nerves tried to strangle his heart. “Dating?”

Jax blushed adorably, in Tony’s mind, and gave a shrug. “We met at B2 and hit it off right away. He’s stunningly beautiful, all surfer boy blond hair and blue eyes with a smile that won’t stop. Needless to say, I think I’ve gotten myself in over my head. He’s a metal sculptor. Come on back, and I’ll introduce you. I think you two will get along fabulously.”

Tony offered a nod and let Jax grab his hand and lead him through the gallery. Their relationship was a little bit complicated, and had a little bit of friendship and a little bit of something more thrown in. They both knew that they weren’t that magical “One” for the other, but they did have a connection that went deeper than just buddies. Tony hoped that this new man could handle that, because after losing Brian and Justin, having Jax taken from him for the sake of a romance would completely suck. Not that Tony wouldn’t step away if this guy really meant as much to his friend as it seemed he did, because he totally would. It just would hurt more than just about anything since he’d lost Brian and Justin.

Not really paying attention to what was going on around him as he lost himself inside of his own head musing on all of the potential things that could go wrong, Tony was startled when hey stopped moving. Shaking his head to pull himself out of his thoughts, Tony realized they were standing in front of a room that was darker than the rest of the gallery, and had The Doors blaring with some kind of animation or computer art on the walls surrounding some metal sculptures.

Jackson was just starting to introduce him to the taller of two blond men, when Tony’s brain kicked in gear and he realized just who was standing in front of him.

“Tony, I would like you to meet,” Jackson started when Tony quickly moved around him moving purely in instinct.

“Fuck, Justin!” He let loose before wrapping the smaller man up in his arms.

“Tone, Jesus, you’re here finally,” Justin cried out as his arms wrapped around Tony’s waist and his face tucked into the crook of his neck. “Fuck, we’ve missed you. Brian’s gonna be so pissed he’s not here, but he’ll be back in a bit. He had to piss.”

Tony nodded, but otherwise was unable to speak, as his brain still hadn’t quite figured out what his eyes had already seen. It looked like Justin. It smelled like Justin, and fuck if it didn’t even sound like Justin and his adorable potty mouth, but how in the fuck it could actually be Justin Tony didn’t understand. Tony figured that if Justin ever got out of Pittsburg, that it would be straight to New York City, but instead here he was in Washington DC. While he didn’t understand, DiNozzo decided that he would happily accept it.

“What? Fuck,” Tony heard as a hand touched his shoulder, and pulling back reluctantly, he saw Brian standing there next to him looking about as open and vulnerable as Tony had ever seen. So, still letting his instincts rule him, he surged forward, and pulled the other man toward him locking their lips together in kiss hot enough to melt the paint of the paintings on the wall.

By the time they finally came up for air, Justin was demanding a kiss of his own, and several of the patrons around them were offering whistles and catcalls or fanning themselves. “Who knew admission came with that kind of a show. I might have to come to more of these shindigs if that’s standard fare.” Tony heard and groaned as he turned to see Tobias watching him with a shit eating grin on his face. He’d totally forgotten in the excitement of seeing first Jax and then Justin and Brian that he’d been there.

“Fuck,” was all Tony could offer intelligently before he found himself wrapped up between Justin and Brian as they three men tried to wrap their minds around the idea that they had finally found each other again.

This time when they came back to reality, Tony noticed that while the area had somewhat cleared out, they’d drawn some newcomers. Jackson and Fornell were still present, although the taller blond had moved to stand next to Jax and Tobias. Tony was assuming that this was this mysterious new boyfriend. There was a younger woman he didn’t know along with another man who appeared to be somewhere around 30 that seemed familiar to Tony, but he didn’t know why. There were two men present though that the artist in Tony was very familiar with.

One of them he recognized as the world-famous artist Padraig McCormac. He was someone that his mother had talked about when he’d been a small child and she’d still been alive. After her death, Tony had almost forgotten about him until his 21st birthday, when her lawyer advised him of his trust fund that came with a handful of the man’s paintings. Since then, Tony had added a few more to his collection, and someday hoped to have a home grand enough to have room to display them.

There was another artist nearby that Tony recognized as being Victor Marks, another well-known, but more current artist that Tony was familiar with. While he was familiar with his work, Tony didn’t own any Marks paintings because the man leaned more toward an area of art that Tony didn’t favor as much. There was no doubt that the man was unbelievably talented though, and being so open about his asexuality had really helped a lot of people around the globe who were like him but didn’t understand who they were.

“Tony, this is my agent Victor Marks, he also serves as Sean’s agent, and behind him is the Gallery owners Padraig and Caterina McCormac,” Justin introduced smoothly, as he gripped Tony’s hand tightly. Brian had moved behind them, but Tony could feel the touch of Bri’s hand at the small of his back. “Next to them are their daughter Gwendolyn McCormac, and their son Greg Sanders. You and he kind of do similar work.”

Tony said hello to everyone and shook several hands before turning his attention to Padriag. “If you don’t mind me fanboying for a moment or two, its an honor to meet you, Mr. McCormac. My mother was a huge fan of yours, and when I turned 21 I inherited several of your early works in a trust from her. I’ve added a few more over the years that I thought went with it. Someday I hope to have a home that I can put a nice gallery space in to display them.”

“Your,” Padraig started, but stopped and seemed to be gathering himself before continuing. It was something Tony found slightly puzzling, but brushed it off. It was the first night of an exhibition opening, and Tony was sure that Padraig had many other things on his mind than the fanboy in front of him and his deceased fangirl mother. “I am glad you could join us. Justin has spoken of you a time or several since he started working for us. I am glad to see that the three of you could be reunited. I would be interested in hearing which pieces that you have and which ones that you purchased on your own. Your mother is deceased then? I am sorry to hear it.”

“She died when I was young,” Tony murmured quietly. His mother’s death always made him sad, no matter how long she had been gone, or what he’d come to understand about her as a child. “I remember her showing me some of your paintings when she was alive. I am sure she would have been thrilled to meet you.”

“I am sure I would have been as happy to meet her,” Padraig returned politely, and Tony turned his attention to Victor Marks.

“Mr. Marks, it’s an honor to meet you as well,” Tony offered with a smile. “I am familiar with your work, also. I wasn’t aware that you did agent work. You have your own gallery in New York City, correct? I think I’ve been in it in my visits.”

“Isn’t it right down the street from Beau Rêve?” Jackson asked, and the mischievous smile on his face made Tony’s suspicious. “I think I’ve been there as well at some point when I went to see your drawings at Beau Rêve.”

“You are an artist?” Caterina inquired and Tony turned his gaze to her after sending a scornful glare Jax’s direction.

“Well, yes,” Tony admitted with a grin and a shrug. “Nothing on this level though. I mostly just do it for fun and as a stress relief. I am sure Marie just displays them to be kind.”

Victor choked as he was taking a drink of his wine. “Marie LeFonte? Kind? I am not sure that dragon knows the meaning of the word. I can assure you Mr. DiNozzo that if that woman has your drawings on her wall it is because she considers you quite talented. She doesn’t waste her time on anyone she sees as beneath her. It doesn’t matter to her if she considers you a friend or not. In fact, I’m not convinced she actually has friends.”

Tony lifted an eyebrow at Victor’s snark, but internally had to admit that he was correct. “She was definitely a hard nut to crack, but once you get to know her there’s a soft squishy middle underneath that prickly steel exterior. She ran across me drawing in a park on one of my few summer vacations that I came home from military school as a teenager. She knows I only do it for fun, but she’s always been good about displaying what I send her. The money I got from her helped me through some rough times in college.”

“I would love to see your work sometime,” Padraig inserted, and Caterina followed up after him quickly. “That sounds wonderful. Tony, you should come with Justin and Brian to our post exhibit dinner in a few weeks. Jackson, we would love to have you attend with Sean as well. That is if you don’t mind showing your work off, Tony. We understand not all artists like to share work they haven’t publicly displayed.”

Tony felt his face getting hot and was happy to feel the touch of Brian’s hand on his back. “I really think more is being made of my drawings than they are worth, but I have a few things I can throw together to show you if Justin has a portfolio I can borrow for the evening.”

“Please,” Jackson snorted, inserting himself once more. “If your father was less of a jerk bag he would have allowed you to take art lessons, but even without them your drawings are amazing. Sean, tell them. You’ve seen the drawing in my study. That’s one of Tony’s works.”

“Jesus, that thing is gorgeous,” Sean agreed readily, “and having dealt with Madame LeMonde I can wholeheartedly agree that she doesn’t display anything on the walls of her gallery to be kind.”

When Justin bumped his shoulder against Tony’s side, the taller man looked down to see Justin grinning up at him. “I told you those drawings were fucking amazing. Maybe you should listen to me sometimes. I can’t wait to see what you’ve done while we’ve been apart! Oh, please, please say you’ll come to the dinner with us.”

Offering a nod, Tony pressed a kiss to the side of Justin’s head. “Case permitting of course, but yes. I would love to come. Padraig, I have a list of the pieces of yours in my collection on my computer at home. I will print you off a copy. I admit, I am curious to see if some of them are really yours. There’s about two or three that I’ve not seen on any lists of your works that you’ve made public.”

“It will be my honor,” Padraig finally offered, and Caterina then shifted the conversation to the exhibit works, saying that she and Padraig would be happy to take Tony and Fornell around to see the exhibit with Brian accompanying them. His hand firmly held by Tony’s. Jackson invited himself along saying he’d like to see some of the pieces again. Justin and Sean were ushered off to talk to a reporter by Victor. The others wandered off on their own. At the end of the night, Tony was trading goodbye’s looking forward to the dinner in a few weeks, but not as much as he was looking forward to what the rest of the evening would bring.

~*~~*~ ~*~~*~ ~*~~*~

Tony woke up in the wee hours of the norming, with a satisfied mind and a bladder that urgently needed to be emptied. The previous night after the exhibit Tony along with Brian, Justin, Sean, and Jackson had gone for a late dinner so those that didn’t know each other could get to know each other. Tony figured that somewhere during that meal when Tony and Jackson started to complete each other’s sentences, or more like it was pointed out to them that they were doing it by a very observant Justin, that B and J had figured out there was more to Tony and Jackson than just a simple friendship. By the smirk on Brian’s face, the older of the duo had caught their connection too.

Fortunately, neither man had prodded anything at that point, because the connection between himself and Jackson was too complicated for Tony to want to weight down dinner with. He knew that the questions would come at some point the next time the three of them had to spend together, and he was ok with it. It wasn’t like he wanted to hide Jackson or pretend that their friendship was less than it was. He just didn’t want to bring down a fun meal full of laughs and absurd stories with all the reasons why he and Jackson had connected.

Feeling the pressing need to deal with his bladder, Tony looked over at Brian and knew there was no way he would wake the man up. Instead, he turned his head to the other side and whispered in Justin’s ear that he needed to roll over. Somehow after a few rounds of sex, Tony had ended up in the middle of the bed with both Justin and Brian’s arms thrown over his chest, as if to make sure he couldn’t get away. As if he had any intention or urge to get away from them ever again.

When Justin rolled over, Tony climbed over the younger blond’s body and hustled to the bathroom, where he took care of his needs and washed his hands. Once that was done, he headed back into the bedroom, only to find out Justin had rolled over again and was now curled into Brian, who had wrapped himself around Justin like a baby monkey around its mother. Snorting, and then finding his phone to take a picture, Tony dug around until he found a clean pair of Brian’s boxers, and a t-shirt that he could wear, and padded out into the rest of the apartment.

Like in Pittsburg, Brian’s apartment was on the top floor, although most likely now it was Brian and Justin’s apartment, or Tony hoped so anyway and was an open concept with a full wall of windows that were currently letting in the first light of the day. Feeling the need to draw and having gotten permission the previous night at dinner from Justin to resume their previous sharing of supplies, Tony wandered around until he found a drawing pad and a box of colored pencils. Then, with his supplies in hand, Tony found someone’s earbuds, cleaning them off quickly with a nearby alcohol pad he’d found, and wandered over to the chaise lounge that he recognized from the Pittsburg loft to see what the morning sun brought for inspiration.

As he set in with a little Sam Smith playing in his ears, begging someone to stay, Tony opened his mind, and let the first colored pencil he’d chosen to flow across the page as his mind worked over the interactions that he’d had with Brian and Justin since their reunion. There was a small part of himself that was having a hard time believing that after all of these years he really had the two men back. In Tony’s experience, life almost never rewarded him for anything, and it certainly never gave him the thing that he wanted absolutely more than anything else in the world. And yet, last night it had.

Last night he was given back the thing that he needed the most in the world to be happy. That being Justin and Brian. Tony knew that there were some pretty serious conversations that needed to be had, and for him, it was preferable that they happened sooner rather than later. He knew that in their past their relationship didn’t have as much communication that it needed to and some of that was because of the nature of him having an alternate identity that he was using due to the undercover assignment he was working. Tonio DeFranco wasn’t exactly a chatty individual, and even after Brian had come on as a CI, Tony had needed to stick as close to his cover as often as he could.

This time though was different. If they were going to be doing this for real, and Tony prayed to Gods that he didn’t believe in that they were, then things needed to be started on the right tone. Of course, Brian would probably say that the previous night’s romp in bed was the perfect beginning, but Tony wanted something a little more substantial. This relationship and these men were way too important to him for Tony to just leave things to chance by assuming the three of them were on the same page about everything. As if. Next thing he’d find out that unicorns exist, and fairies helped out kinds who didn’t want to grow up in Neverland.

Mine made up that he would be having a serious relationship talk with Brian and Justin as soon as possible, Tony turned his mind to the exhibit the night before, and more specifically the oddness of Padraig McCormac. The man was charming, and Tony could see that he was drop dead gorgeous in his prime. Tony’s mother had once hinted that Padraig was quite the ladies’ man, and why she thought a child under eight needed that information, Tony had no clue. There was something about the way the older man had reacted to not just Tony’s presence, and unless it was his overactive imagination Jackson’s too, but the way Padraig had reacted to the news that Tony’s mother had some of his paintings had also been odd.

Thanks to the nature of his job, and the high-profile cases that Tobias’ team tended to work, Tony had met his fair share of politicians, entertainers, and athletes who all knew how important or famous (or both) that they were, and reacted to those things in different ways. Some loved the fawning and seemed to almost thrive on it or expect it at times bordering on demanding it. Others hated it and preferred that they were no different than anyone else, but in Tony’s experience still expected a certain level of preferential treatment even if they denied it. Some loved to hear that the people they met were fawning fanboys or fangirls, and others seemed to resent the very fact that they had fans who wanted a tiny bit of their time. Although, Tony could admit that he’d seem some truly horrific fanboying or fangirling by cops or federal agents over the years at the most inappropriate times. So, a bit of him could understand the ones that hated it, at least a little bit.

Padraig though had seemed like he was one of the genuine ones who welcomed the interaction as Tony observed him around the other patrons in the gallery. With Tony and even Jackson, there was something else lying under the surface of the interaction that Tony couldn’t figure out. It was as if the man was holding himself back from saying something or trying not to fanboy on his own, which was seriously weird. The thing was that Tony could get why someone would want to fanboy or fangirl all over Jackson Grimes. The man was gorgeous, talented, and one of the most brilliant minds in his field currently in the entire world. Grimes Tech regularly made innovations that changed the way things were done or the way people thought of things in whatever area they were developing in. While Tony was aware that he was no f’ugly hunchback himself, he certainly did not have the fame that Jackson had to be known by someone like Padraig McCormac.

Had the man been in law enforcement, Tony could maybe, possibly see it as being plausible. He had run across the occasional rookie who had reviewed one of his cases or undercover assignments at the FBI academy at some point, and then fangirled or fanboyed all over him when they met. That was rare though. Padraig McCormac certainly wasn’t some green rookie fresh out of the FBI academy though, which meant his reaction to Tony’s story about his mother didn’t fit any scenario that the FBI agent had experienced previously.

At the same time, there was something Senior related that was picking at his brain that Tony couldn’t quite grasp or understand. Why in the hell Senior would have anything to do with Padraig McCormac, unless he was trying to run a con on the man or the man’s artwork which was highly likely but didn’t feel right. No, Padraig had seemed almost in awe that Tony and Jackson were really there in his gallery and that he was getting to spent time with them. How in the fuck that connected to Senior, Tony had no idea. It was a puzzle though that Tony knew his mind would poke at all day and probably beyond that if needed until it found an answer that seemed reasonable. Most likely, the thing with Senior was the same. Whatever it was that was picking at Tony’s memory would come to him sooner or later and probably solve some bigger puzzle that Tony didn’t even know that he was working.

S’a little early for drawing isn’ it?” A grumbly voice rumbled in his ear, and Tony knew instantly who it was. Lifting his face, Tony presented Brian with a smile, and just barely had time to put his drawing pad aside before he found himself with a lapful of sleepy blond. Apparently, Justin had followed Brian out of bed, but Tony wasn’t surprised when the youngest of the three was quickly back to sleep on Tony’s lap. Brian for his part just snorted and rested a hand on the top of Tony’s rumpled hair in greeting before Tony watched him wanted off in the direction of the kitchen.

Soon, the smell of coffee was filling the apartment, and not long after that, Brian was returning with two mugs and urging Tony to lift his feet so he could sit on the end. “So, why’re you up already?” Brian asked this time the words were almost recognizable and Tony smiled.

“I had to pee, and when I got back someone had stolen my spot,” he complained good naturedly, and as if knowing he was being discussed, Justin snuffled adorably in his sleep scrunching up his nose.

“Damned bedhog,” Brian bitched before taking a sip of his coffee, and Tony hid his own smile behind his own mug. “I’ve never understood how someone smaller than me can take up so fucking much room on a bed. You still don’t sleep much? Was that you then and not the case? I don’t sleep much either, especially now that I’m not drinking as much and have cut out the drugs mostly, except a joint now and then. I don’t really need it as much as the bed hog does.”

Tony chuckled softly as he rested his coffee mug on a portion of his leg that Justin wasn’t covering up with his body. “Yeah, I don’t really need much sleep. Usually, four or five hours is good. Six hours is like a max unless I’m sick or have been going without for a case or something. Then I crash for eight to ten hours. I usually am up pretty close to sunrise. So, I would have been waking up anyway, even if I hadn’t had to pee. I’m glad to hear that you’ve cut out some of that other stuff. That’s awesome man. Just remember I am a federal agent and don’t make me watch you and Justin smoking pot, huh? As long as I’m not put in a position someday where I might have to lie and say I’ve not seen people in my house smoking I’m fine with it. It’s not really my thing, but it doesn’t bug me like the harder stuff does. I umm…”

Tony trailed off trying how to bring up the fact that they needed to have a conversation, and a raised eyebrow seemed to be the only help Brian was going to give him. “I’d like us three to sit down sometime soonish and make sure we’re on the same page with this us trying again thing. I mean if that’s what we’re doing, and personally and without pressure or making assumptions to what you two want, I am very on board with giving this another try. There are things I need to tell you guys that I couldn’t before and I am sure you have questions you want to ask. I know I have things I wanna know, like how the fuck you two ended up in DC of all places. But, I do actually have to go to work today, no matter what Tobias says. I am my boss’ SIC. So, I need to get shit done for the case we closed yesterday so that he can do his own shit. Hotch may understand if I’m late, but it’ll bug me. It’s bad enough I gotta go home to get clothes before I go to work.”

“You can just borrow one of my suits if you want,” Brian offered causally, but Tony almost choked on his coffee knowing it was a much bigger deal than the other man was prending. Brian Kinney was very particular about his suits. It was something that he and Tony actually shared now that they hadn’t then. In fact, it was Brian’s love of fashion and suits in particular that had started Tony onto his own fashion and love of good suits. After spending almost a year seeing the difference that a good suit can do for a man, Tony adopted a similar wardrobe once he got the spot on Tobias’ team. God only knew that he didn’t need to give Slacks any more ammunition than the man already had in the beginning by coming in looking like a scumbag.

“Thanks,” Tony replied and didn’t hold back his laugh when a hand came up and stole the coffee cup he’d been lifting toward his own lips. “I’ll take you up on that actually. It’ll make things much easier. I used my go bag yesterday at work. So I don’t have any spare clothes like I normally do.”

“You people are too loud,” Justin grumbled as he stole a sip and then sat up.

“I don’t know if you’ve realized this, Princess,” Brian drawled as he emptied his own cup with a smirk, “but this is not the bedroom. If you want to sleep, you could have stayed in bed.”

Justin pouted as he stole Tony’s cup, again, and the Italian just rolled his eyes knowing there was no way he was getting it back. “You both left. I didn’t want to sleep alone. I like the talk idea. I think it’s a good idea. Brian and I have been trying to do a better job at that ourselves, and it was part of why we left the Pitts. Fewer people here to stick their noses in our business and we could actually have conversations out what we need in our lives without 97 other people offering up their own fucking opinions. Will you be able to come back tonight? Or will you need to wait till tomorrow? I assume you don’t have to go into the office on weekends?”

“Not unless I’m working a case,” Tony assured as he glared at Justin who was draining his coffee cup much to Brian’s amusement. “I was actually considering asking Hotch for tomorrow off. If I remember correctly, we’re supposed to be in town for a while. We’ve had several cases in a row here lately. More than we’re supposed to, but the last couple couldn’t be helped. What are your schedules?”

Justin laid back down using Tony as a pillow again and shrugged. “I’ll talk to Padraig and Victor about how much I need to be there. I wasn’t supposed to have to be there except for my normal working outs after last night, but I wanna make sure. So, I’ll have to go in tomorrow for a bit, but Friday’s are normally half days for me anyway. I’d be done by noonish.”

Brian was smiling at Justin with a twinkle of pride in his eyes, that Tony understood well. Justin had overcome a lot to get to the point where he was currently, including an asshole father who threw him out of the house, and a mother who couldn’t seem to pick a side. Or at least she hadn’t been able to last he heard. For Justin’s sake, Tony hoped that had changed while they’d been apart.

“I don’t have anything going on tomorrow,” Brian informed as he took the coffee cup from Justin. “What little I would need to do I can do from here or over the weekend. I don’t have any major accounts coming up, and Ted is more than capable of running the DC office by himself for the day. B2 can take care of itself. I have a good manager there. I’ll give you my number so you can send me a text and let me know what your boss says. I don’t think it would be the worst thing in the world if you and I had a few hours alone just the two of us tomorrow morning while Sunshine is at work to maybe iron out some shit. Even if all this sharing and caring bullshit makes my dick soft.”

Tony snorted and wrapped his arms around Justin as he watched Brian head to the kitchen where he rinsed out the coffee cups. Eventually, the three of them had a quick breakfast due to the not so quick fuck in the shower. Then they separated for the day, with Tony wearing a suit of Brian’s that was too sinful to pass up. He really hoped that Hotch was ok with some time off because honestly, Tony felt like he needed it. They needed it.

# Chapter Three

Tony headed into the BAU bullpen with a smile on his face and a bounce in his step. After stowing his stuff at his desk, he headed up to Hotch’s office, knocking on the doorframe, and waiting to be waved in when he saw Rossi was already in there.

“Nice suit,” Rossi commented with a whistle and Tony smirked as he gave a little twirl.

“I don’t recognize that one,” Hotch commented as Tony sat down in the empty seat in front of Aaron’s desk. “Is that new?”

“Nope!” Tony offered making the p sound pop. “It’s not mine.”

Rossi chuckled and gave an attaboy with a slap to Tony’s shoulder as Hotch just grinned. “Sounds like things went well at the gallery opening then,” Tony’s boss and friend commented, and Tony nodded happily.

“Yes, yes they did,” He agreed as he settled more comfortably into the chair. “We obviously have things to work out and discuss, but yeah. Things are looking good, which is why I am here. Firstly, I wanted to let you know Hotch that I have to change some of my paperwork to include Brian and Justin. I’m not sure what I’ll need to do that, and I was hoping you knew. Secondly, I was hoping that I could get tomorrow off if we don’t have a case. Like I said the three of us have some things to work out, and honestly, I really need this to work. I know most of the time my job will have to come first. So, I’d like to take the time to make them a priority when I can. Brian especially made a point of saying that he wanted to talk to me just the two of us, and I want to be able to do that.”

“Absolutely,” Hotch said immediately with a serious nod. “Communication or a lack of honest communication was one of the things that ended up coming between Haley and I. Neither of us were as open as we should have been about what we needed up front, which obviously led to issues later when it turned out we had different things we wanted out of our lives. Take the day. If you need more time than that, just shoot me a text and let me know. We’re going to be getting some downtime here shortly anyway if I have my way. Strauss wants to rush us back to work, but I’m putting my foot down. I’ll go to the Assistant AD if I have to. So, you may have more time off than tomorrow anyway. Just make sure all your paperwork is done when you leave today.

“As for updating your files with HR, I will send you a list of everything I can think of and what is needed to change them. Some you’ll be able to do today, but some you won’t because you need their Social Security Numbers and signatures. I am happy for you, and a little jealous. Not only did you get to be reunited with Brian and Justin, but you got to meet Sean before I did. Although that’s never going to stop freaking me out that Jackson’s new boyfriend has the same name as my brother. Did you like him? I know he has to be hot. It’s Jackson.”

Tony snorted as he lifted a leg to rest his ankle on top of his knee. “Sean is fucking gorgeous. Just as you’d expect of Jax. He’s all blond curls and blue eyes and this fucking amazing smile. Plus, he has this laid-back surfer vibe that just meshes so well with Jackson’s personality. It’s really not fair how gorgeous they are together. If you and Rossi would confirm or deny the rumor you two are doing the dirty mambo between the sheets we’d know if we need to set you up or not.”

Rossi let out a bark of laughter as Aaron tried to hide his amusement behind his glare. “No comment,” Aaron finally offered, and Tony just huffed but turned his attention to the elder Italian when he spoke.

“I expect you to bring them to the next team dinner. I want to meet these two. I’ve heard their names enough it’ll be nice to get a chance to meet them. Aaron and I are going to go to the gallery tomorrow night after work to see Justin’s work. I am very curious to see what your boy can do.”

“He’s a talented little motherfucker,” Tony said in jest as his chest puffed out with pride. “Seriously, the exhibit he put together with Sean is fucking awesome. Of course, I’m partial to the painting with Brian’s cock in it, but I may be a tad biased. When you see the sold sticker on it, I am sure you’ll be able to figure out who bought it.” The two older men snorted at that, and with a grin, Tony got up and headed down to his desk to start his day.

Several hours later, Tony was almost done with his reports. He hated to leave anything to the last minute, and therefore did as much as he could when the case was going on. Since he didn’t sleep much, he was often up late at night in his hotel room keeping reports up to date as much as he could. Because of that, when he was back home, he had to spend less time doing reports and could spend more time on consults and cold cases. He was just beginning to realize that he was hungry when he sensed someone walking up to his desk.

Looking up and seeing Jax standing there looking down at him from the walkway, Tony leaned back in his chair and smirked up at his friend. “Aaron’s office is up that way, dude.”

Jackson snorted as he leaned on the railing looking down at his friend. “I’m not here to see Aaron, dude. And seriously, that word will never sound natural coming out of your lips. Aaron called me and begged that I come steal you ‘cause he’s tired of his inbox dinging with more paperwork. So, come with me to lunch and we can talk about last night.”

Before Tony could respond, Aaron could be heard hollering from his office. “Go away, DiNozzo! I don’t need more paperwork!”

Smirking, Tony finished the report he had been working on, and decided that he was caught up enough for now. “DiNozzo!” He heard bellowed, and once he stood, he saw Aaron standing in his office doorway glaring in jest. “Go away! Consider this your release for the day. I don’t want more to do. Our vacation for next week has been approved. You can get me your remaining reports whenever. Just go to lunch, and don’t come back. I’d like to get home to see my son sometime this year. Reid, that goes double for you! Go away! Prentiss, unfortunately, I need more paperwork from you before you can leave.”

Tony and Spencer quickly packed up their things and didn’t even try not to mock Emily as they took off toward the elevators with Jackson following and laughing manically while she shouted insults at them. On the way down, Tony invited Spencer to come along with them, to lunch, but the genius declined saying that he was taking the unexpected opportunity to go visit an old college friend who he had a standing invitation to come visit.

“Friend, huh?” Tony teased, and then grinned big when Spencer blushed tucking stray hair behind one ear.

“For now,” Spencer admitted with a smile, “we’ve been talking more lately, and somewhere along the way things took a turn. We’ve decided to see if there’s anything to it. He does his job mostly online. So, he can work from anywhere in the world. Because of it, he’s been coming here to see me, but I thought it’d be nice to be the one to go his way for once. I was thinking I’d spend a couple days at his place then talk him into going with me to see Mom. Maybe get a nice room at one of the hotels. As long as I don’t gamble they’ll let me stay in one.”

“That’s awesome, Spencer!” Tony said warmly as he patted the younger man’s back. “I expect a lunch date when we are both back to work so you can tell me all about this guy.”

“Deal,” Spencer agreed as the three men walked off the elevator, “as long as you agree to give me the scoop on Brian and Justin.”

“You got it, Doc!” Tony offered before they separated in the parking garage with Tony and Jackson heading one way, with Spencer heading the other way towards his Volvo Amazon. Tony and Spencer often got together to tune up their cars as both of them drove classic vehicles that they were picky about who worked on them.

Having the rest of the afternoon off, Tony and Jackson dropped Jax’s car off at his house, they then put the top down on the corvette, and drove down the coast for a while. A little over an hour later, Tony pulled the ‘Vette into the parking lot of the Dockside Restaurant and Tiki Bar, where the pair settled on the outside patio. After ordering something to drink and a couple appetizers, the waitress left, and the two friends settled in for a conversation.

“So, since I don’t recognize the suit, and it doesn’t fit well enough to actually be yours, I am guessing that things went well after we separated last night?” Jackson asked and Tony just smirked at him as he thought about the man across from him.

From the minute Tony had met Jackson Grimes there had been something between them that extended beyond simple friendship. At first, Tony chalked it up to the bond Jackson shared with Tony’s boss Aaron Hotchner and the huge amount of respect that Tony had for the Unit Chief. Then there was the way that Aaron had brought him in and made sure Tony knew he was family almost right from the start. So, naturally, anyone that Aaron considered family or was protective of, Tony was too.

Then for a brief moment of time, Tony thought maybe there was something romantic or sexual trying to blossom between them, but it hadn’t taken more than one timely fart joke for the Italian to realize that wasn’t quite it either. While it was true that Jackson was an incredibly sexy man, and normally someone that Tony would love to climb like a tree, there was just some mysterious factor that kept him from moving their friendship into anything that would involve a bed and nakedness.

And yet, there was still something about Jackson that almost quite literally sang to Tony’s soul. It wasn’t just him either. One thing that Tony had learned quickly about Jax was that the man wasn’t afraid to share how he was feeling. So, quite soon into their friendship, Tony found out that this weird more than friends, but nowhere near bedmates thing they had going on wasn’t one sided. At one point, Tony had shared his confusion about the whole thing with Penelope and Spencer over lunch, and it was the vivacious computer tech that proclaimed them to be platonic soul mates. It was a label that Tony figured fit better than anything else that he’d come up with. It felt a little sappy, but that might be Tony’s inner male that was turning its nose up at a term that sounded way too girly. Nevertheless, there was still something with Jackson that spoke to him in a way that no one and nothing else had maybe ever else had. It was a mystery that Tony had eventually filed away with the rest of his unknowns to be solved at some point in the future.

As he looked across the table at the other man though, one thing Tony was certain of was that he was glad he had Jax in his life. Maybe the platonic soulmate thing wasn’t as farfetched or girly as Tony wanted to think, because it was true that Jackson’s very presence could absolutely calm him down right to the bottom of his soul. More than once, Tony had called the other man in the middle of the night after a particularly bad nightmare and the sound of the tech genius’ voice had calmed him down and chased the monsters away.

“So, how’d things go the other night after the restaurant,” Jackson asked pulling Tony from his thoughts, and the FBI agent smiled contentedly before answering.

“Quite satisfyingly, thank you,” Tony practually purred, and Jackson threw a leer at him in jest.

“I would beg for details, but I know what a stingy bastard you are in that area. So, I will just say instead that I am glad things worked out. If anyone deserves a happy ending it’s you. I hope you guys are going to do more than just fuck your brains out and hope that stuff works out.”

“Actually, we are,” Tony promised as he paused while the waiter set their drinks down and then took their meal orders before wandering away again. Once I get back to town, I’m gonna get some stuff from my place then go stay at their condo for a few days. I don’t know if I will spend my whole vacation with them, but I wouldn’t be opposed to it. And yes, we already have plans to sit down and talk tonight. Then tomorrow morning, Justin has to go to work for a few hours. So, Brian and I are gonna spend them together clearing the air, per his request. As much as we all three love fucking, I think we’re mature enough now, and I hope dedicated to making this into something forever, that we know it can’t survive on sex alone.”

“Not that you won’t try,” Jackson needled, and Tony snorted.

“Please, if you and Sean aren’t fucking like bunnies every chance you get then I’ll visit you in the monistary.”

“Hey, he’s very pretty,” Jackson said with a laugh and Tony didn’t even bother trying to deny it, because it was the absolute truth. Sean O’Grady was one fucking beautiful man.

“How did you meet anyway?” Tony asked before taking a sip of his raspberry tea.

“I was at B2 trying to find someone interesting to do for the evening, when I saw him arguing with some fugly dude. So, I walked up, put my arm around his shoulders and apologized for being late. Then I asked if he was ready to fuck yet, and started to drag him towards the backroom before Mr. F’ugly knew what was happening.”

  
“And he just allowed it?” Tony asked incredulously, and Jackson quickly shook his head no.

“Oh, fuck no. We got half way there, and he said that he hoped I knoew that my dick wasn’t getting anywhere near his body until we’d at least had a meal. So, I took him out the backdoor and down the alley to a diner that has the best fucking cheese fries in DC. Two hours later, I found myself in a debate about hair bands from the 80s and whether or not Kip Winger was a fucking perve and knew I might have something. When I asked him if he knew who I was, he told me, yes, but he didn’t give two fucks because he preferred Apple to Grimes Tech and had plenty of his own money. Then he told me I still wasn’t getting my cock near his body until I’d bought him a real meal.”

Tony laughed as he stretched out in his chair more comfortably. “I can only imagine what you followed up that with.”

“The next weekend I took him to McDonalds and then we went to see the local soccer team, and afterwards got my brains fucked out when I let him top.”

Tony couldn’t help the bark of laughter, or the cheesy grin on his face. “Jesus, that is so you, you lucky motherfucker. He seems awesome. So, I’m happy for you. If he hurts you, turns out to be a gold digger, or a criminal I am coming after him like hellhounds were chasing him. Fair warning. And, if you pull one of your asshole moves, I’m totally stepping back and letting Justin at you, and you’ll wish that there were hellhounds available because it would be easier.”

Jackson laughed at that and gave a nod. “That boy of yours is something else. He and Brian have come out with us a couple times since Sean and I have started dating. I gotta admit I am half in love with that kid. He sure as fuck doesn’t let anyone tell him what to think or hold back from telling you that you’re being an asshole. That’s for sure, and their friend Emmet is a fucking hoot! He recently did a last minute job for me when a caterer backed out. The next day I signed him to a long term contact to do all of GT’s catering.”

“I love Emmet,” Tony admitted with a wry grin, “and I can’t wait to see him again.”

“What did you think of Padraig?” Tony asked after taking another long sip of his tea.

“You know, there’s oddness there,” Jackson advised, and Tony could see him shift from playful to serious. “At first, I thought it was just the whole Being Jackson Grimes, thing. Then my mom called me, and I was telling her about the exhibition and meeting Padraig, and she got all weird on me.”  
“Weird how?” Tony asked leaning forward and pushing his glass to one side so that he could rest his elbows on the picnic table they were seated at. “Because I thought there was something odd going on with Padraig, and there’s something Senior related that’s nagging at me, but I can’t remember.”

“When I told my mother that Caterina had invited me to their home for dinner as Sean’s date in a couple weeks, she made me promise that I’d let her explain.” Jackson shared with a frown. “When I tried to get her to explain further, she refused to say anything more, other than she fucked up and she was sorry. Frankly, it’s fucking irritating me, because I really can only come up with a couple ideas, and I don’t know if I like any of them.”

“All I could think that night was that I wished my mother had chosen him,” Tony offered, “which doesn’t make sense, because I don’t even know that they have ever met let alone had a relationship. Somehow though, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that mom and Padraig had some kind of torrid affair. I’m not even sure that it would upset me. I’d like to think that at some point in her life, she found someone that cared for her and treated her like she deserved. And, for what it’s worth, I think we’re probably having the same ideas, and I don’t know how I feel about it either.”

“So, just to be clear,” Jackson said playing with his glass, making water rings on the wood of the table, “we both think that at the very least our mothers have had sexual relationships with Padraig McCormac, and maybe something more that neither one of us are ready to think about, but probably both admit that it wouldn’t be the worst thing.”

Tony let loose a sigh before he responded. “Honestly, finding out that Senior wasn’t my father might be the best thing that ever happened to me. I am pretty sure that my mom at least had some level of crush on him. I wish I could remember more about our talks, but it’s been a long time and I was still pretty young when she died. Are we admitting that? Do we both think there’s a chance that our mothers had affairs with Padraig McCormac and that they have lied about it our whole lives?”

“I mean, did you catch that his son doesn’t share his last name?” Jackson dodged in lieu of answering outright. “I suppose there could be a variety of reasons why that is, but certainly one of them could be that he wasn’t raised by or with or knew of Padraig. And, I mean, I love the fuck out of my dad, but… Hell, I dunno how I would feel. I mean, my dad was amy fucking hero, and when he died it almost destroyed me. I mean, you understand. I know you feel the same about your mother’s death. The thing is that he’s been gone a long time, and to be honest, I have always known that I look nothing like the man. I mean, he loved me and he raised me when he was around, but there was also a lot of my life before he died that he wasn’t around because he was deployed somewhere. It isn’t like I am itching to replace dad. I don’t have a situation with him like you do Senior. I just, maybe it would explain some things?”

“Like what?” Tony asked curiously and Jax let loose a long deep sigh before continuing.

“Dad’s parents and family have always treated me like shit. I mean, I can count on one had how many times I’ve seen them since dad died. Granted they are both dead now, but that doesn’t change how they acted when they were alive. I also can tell you that my grandfather on my mother’s side was a pure bastard. That fucker looked down on his nose at everyone. So, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was something different to my parentage than I was always told. I just, I don’t know how I feel about mom keeping it from me all these years. I mean, dad’s been dead since I was a teenager. Whatever the circumstance was that made her try and pass me off as dad’s instead of Padraig’s it doesn’t explain why she never told me the truth after he died.”

“Maybe she was afraid how you would take it?” Tony guessed tilting his head to one side. “My guess is that if Senior didn’t know right off, he figured it out at some point. He certainly isn’t the type to want kids. Hell, I’ve always been surprised that he didn’t turn me over to the state or something after mom died, if it weren’t for the fact that his fuckin’ society friends would look down their noses at him for doing it. I just, Jesus, Jax, what the fuck are we saying? We aren’t really sitting here contemplating the idea that our fathers aren’t our fathers and that Padraig fucking McCormac is, are we?”

“I mean, maybe?” Jackson allowed as the waiter came with their food, and the duo sat in silence for quite a while after he left using the food as an excuse to let their thoughts roam free for a minute or several.

“I don’t even know where to go with this,” Tony finally admitted, sitting back in his chair and giving his stomach a break. “I don’t know, honestly, if I want to go anywhere with it. I know that normally I am the first one pushing for answers, but I think maybe we should let this one ride. I’m not saying keep it totally to ourselves, but…. Would Sean keep his mouth shut around Padraig if you told him?”

“I think so,” Jackson murmured after a pause. “I guess it would be the first big test as to where his loyalty lies, right? I mean, if this thing with him and me is as serious as I want it to be, he’ll not say anything when I ask him to stay quiet. I guess, if he goes running to his boss anyway, I’ll know his interest is more in my bank account than me. What about you? I mean, I am sure you’re safe with Brian. He doesn’t seem like the type to stick his nose in other people’s business, but what about Justin? That kid seems to be the type to want to help when he can.”

“He is,” Tony agreed and scrunched up his nose, “but he also understands complex family situations and keeping your trap shut. I know he’d understand how fucking personal this is, and I am not worried about him going against my wishes. That isn’t even a thing. I just… really, I think I don’t want to get my hopes up only to find out there’s some perfectly simple explanation for the whole thing that isn’t so Days of Out Lives.”

“Well, you’re the investigator,” Jackson pointed out with a smirk, “you’d know about rushing to judgement I suppose. I just don’t know what this perfectly simple explanation you’re alluding to would be. I agree though that letting things lie for now is the best. We could go see him, but I think maybe that letting this play out in its own time is the way to go. I think we both could use the time to decide how we’d feel either way, and hey, look at it this way. If it’s true, if Padraig McCormac is really both of our father, then that makes us brothers. I don’t usually believe in all that fate and mystical shit, but I would say that would explain a lot about a lot.”

Tony snorted and tossed his balled-up napkin at Jackson. “You have quite the way with words, Grimes. Jesus. A lot about a lot. Don’t take up writing, huh?” The conversation then was intentionally turned toward a movie they both wanted to see, but their minds never really stopped thinking of what might be.

# Chapter Four:

After he got back to DC, Tony dropped Jax off at Grimes Tech, and then headed to his house to pack a couple bags. One would have enough clothes for a week with both casual wear, some club wear for when they eventually got to B2, and a suit or two because he knew they’d go out to eat. He then packed some DVDs in his computer bag and grabbed his duffle of art supplies along with the portfolio he kept on handy and his drawing pads full of completed work. He hadn’t updated it in a while, but then he hadn’t been drawing as much the last year or so. If he was going to show Padraig McCormac his work, he wanted someone else’s opinion on what he should include. Especially if he and Jax were on the correct path about their true parentage.

Tony had always been shy about his art work. It was infinitely more personal to him than most anything else that he shared on a daily basis. Despite the fact that he was in a pretty good place in his life and was surrounded by people that he mostly liked and respected, it didn’t mean that baring his soul via his drawings was something he was itching to do freely. There were still too many of his childhood lessons telling him to keep important personal things private or they’d be used against him to just open his artwork to everyone who knew him. There was a very good reason why the only place he showed his work was the place he very rarely went back to. Madeline was always bugging him for something new to display, but he hadn’t had time lately and wasn’t as inspired as he used to be. Tony hoped that with the reappearance of Brian and Justin in his life that his creative juices would return to him.

After travelling across town with to Brian and Justin’s loft, it wasn’t until he was knocking on the door that it occurred to him there was a very good possibility that neither Brian nor Justin may be home. In fact, he would bet that Brian would be working late, especially if he was planning on taking some time to work at home instead of the office. As soon as he’d found out about the long weekend with a possibility of having the upcoming week off, he’d texted Brian, who quickly texted back that he’d work on moving around his schedule so they could spend as much time together as possible.

Tony had no clue what Justin’s hours were at the gallery, but because of the exhibit going on, he was a little surprised when the loft door opened to reveal the blond on the other side. “You’re here!” Justin exclaimed happily as he grabbed a couple of Tony’s bags and urged him inside.

“I called Brian when I got your text that you were on your way,” Justin explained as he headed through the loft with Tony following behind him until they ended up in the bedroom. Tony motioned to the duffle bag that Justin was carrying.

“Just that one stays in here,” Tony interrupted quickly before Justin continued his happy chatter. “The other one is obviously my portfolio, which I need you to help me go through. I brought my computer bag so I can do some work from here. I have some reports and things I need to finish as long as your network is secure enough. This other duffle has my art stuff in it and some drawing pads for us to look through when we pick out what to show Padraig.”

“Cool, cool,” Justin said dumping the duffle bag on the bed before bouncing back over. “I’ll show you the office area. You can use my desk in there. I only use it for my digital artwork, and I don’t have anything going there right now. Then we’ll go up and I’ll show you my studio. It’s on the rooftop, but only this loft has access to it. It has a couch. So, after we dump off your art bag we can sit there and talk for a while.”

Tony followed Justin through the loft, swerving away to admire the kitchen, which wasn’t the chef’s kitchen of his dreams, but good enough. He noted the kid’s bedroom hidden in the back and all the stuff scattered around the loft that screamed child. The office area was decent as well, and Tony looked forward to being able to work with Brian. Pausing there a moment, Tony set up his laptop, and then called Penelope Garcia, the BAU’s personal Technical Analyst, to check the connection. After a quick call to Brian to get permission to let her tweak their network security, Tony got the approval to use their network for work purposes and quickly signed off promising her a gossip session when they all got back to work.

Turning his cell on vibrate in case there was a work emergency, Tony slipped the phone into his pocket, then taking Justin’s hand followed the younger man up to the roof. The portfolio and the drawing pads he wanted to go through with Justin were left on the kitchen table along with some supplies so he could draw down in the loft if inspiration struck. Then, he followed Justin to a staircase hidden in the back of the loft and up to the rooftop they’d turned into a nice deck area. He loved the grilling area they had set up, but it was the greenhouse that seemed to have been turned into a studio that caught his attention.

“Isn’t it hot in the summer?” Tony asked as they headed inside but looked to where Justin was pointing toward the floor and saw the vents.

“Brian had it connected to the loft’s air and heating,” Justin said pointing out the thermostat that Tony hadn’t noticed on one of the glass walls. “You can use my drawing board. I’m working on a series of paintings right now that I already have sketched out.”

Tony nodded his agreement and then after dumping his bag on top headed over to the couch and took a seat just before Justin, who had gone to the mini fridge to grab them both bottles of water. When the smaller blond curled up into his side, Tony put an arm around his shoulders with a soft smile on his face and couldn’t resist pressing a kiss into his right temple. “I’ve missed you,” Tony murmured quietly, and tightened his grip squeezing one of Justin’s shoulder as he heard the younger man sigh.

“There are so many things I want to say to you, and I’ve thought about this moment for so long. Now that I’m here though, I don’t know where to start. I feel like I have so many things to apologize to you for, to each of you for separately and together, but mostly I just can’t fucking believe that the two of you have moved to DC.”

“We missed you too much to stay in Pittsburg,” Justin confessed and shrugged one of his shoulders. “One day we sat down and realized that there really wasn’t much beyond Kinnetik holding us there, and the second Brian decided that the business would survive a move to DC, there really was no reason to stay. Things there became almost toxic. Brian’s eyes were opened I guess you could say after that verbal ass kicking you gave the family that night before you left.”

Justin took a sip of his water, and Tony could feel the younger man’s nerves. Despite the fact that he truly believed that some of the family Brian had formed for himself wasn’t good for him, the FBI agent couldn’t help the ball of anxiety that formed in his stomach knowing he was responsible for being the one to initiate a split. If anyone deserved the love you could only get from family, it was Brian Kinney.

“Things didn’t start to break up right away. I mean for a while Brian tried to ignore things. I think mostly because we had already lost you, and he was afraid of losing the family he’d made for himself on top of it. Michael just couldn’t keep his mouth shut though. It was one thing when he’d make his little digs about you. I mean, Brian understood that at the beginning. They didn’t all know that you were undercover. ‘Cept then Deb started dating Horvath, and the truth came out. He made sure she knew how much we owe you for taking down Stockwell. I think it threw her enough that she would have come around if it weren’t for Michael. He just couldn’t keep his mouth shut.

“It didn’t take long for Brian to get irritated, and then he started clueing in on the normal bullshit I’d been living with where Michael was concerned. One night after a particularly extra difficult dinner at Deb’s where Michael just couldn’t get off my ass, Brian made me tell him everything that had gone down with Michael since the day Brian and I met. After that, he tried to lay down the law with little Mikey, but the fucker just didn’t believe that Brian would really pick me over him. Then one-night Michael spiked my drink at Babylon when I was there without Brian. I’d picked up a… well, a stalker. This greasy haired violinist from PIFA that I met when Linds and Melony took me to a concert.”

When Justin grew quiet a moment, Tony rested his cheek against the top of the smaller man’s head and breathed in his scent as he squeezed him tight. The idea that not only had Justin picked up a stalker, but that Michael had gone so far as to drug Justin to prove some fucking point made him irate. There was zero chance that he wouldn’t be contacting Penelope as soon as possible to have her pull up every fucking detail on the situation that she could. If it hadn’t been resolved to his satisfaction, well, Tony had some contacts still from his undercover days who cared less about him being a cop as long as his money was still green that he wasn’t afraid to use.

“Michael was pissed off that he was losing Brian and thought that if he got me out of the picture then things would go back to normal. Brian told him the Sunday before that not only was I more important to him, but that you were too, and the fucker didn’t take that well. Everyone knew about Ethan because I’d been bitching about him for months. So, Michael tracks him down and they hatch this plan to break me and Brian up. Michael told Ethan that if I wasn’t with Bri anymore I’d be his, and it was easy for the greaseball to believe it. If it wasn’t for Blake…” Justin sniffled, and Tony pulled him to sit in his lap so that he could hold the younger man easier.

“I don’t remember it because I was pretty out of it, but I guess we ran into him outside of Babylon and he was suspicious because he knew I didn’t do hard drugs. Hell, even Brian didn’t do more than smoke pot at that point. I’d never been really comfortable with them, and certainly never did them without Brian around. Blake was suspicious when he saw me leaving with someone he didn’t know and got the attention of the bouncers at the door. The end result was I had to spend a week in the hospital after a particularly bad reaction to the crap they’d given me. I mean, we all know about my many drug allergies, but fuck knows Michael didn’t care. The bouncers called the cops, and when Ethan was interrogated, he turned on Michael immediately, which is where we lost Deb.

“She was already feeling torn between Brian and Michael, but mostly Carl had convinced her to keep out of it. When the truth came out about what Michael did though she kinda lost it. I mean, of course Michael denied it despite the overwhelming evidence against him. I mean the fucker bought the drugs himself and had been seen in the fucking dinner with Ethan, but you know Deb. It’s at least partly her fault that Michael is so fucked up and pathetic in the first place. God knows she wasn’t going to admit that though. This shit just made everything harder on her, and she ended up having a heart attack.

“Brian still calls her every couple of weeks, but it’s mostly out of his belief that he owes her something. Their relationship was damaged and will never be the same. She got pissed off when he refused to spend money to get Michael a good lawyer, and even Brian’s loyalty was dented by the fact that she would even think to ask him to spend money on the man who’d drugged me and was ok with the fact that I would have been raped if things went according to his and Ethan’s plan. I would be happy if we just never heard from her again, but I am keeping my mouth shut. They’ve hurt Brian enough and I’m not about to pile on.”

“Jesus, Jus,” Tony whispered, and the two men fell quiet as Tony hugged the artist as tight as he could and tried to wrap his mind around what he’d been told. He’d never liked Michael from the start and didn’t think much of his enabling mother either.

While Tony knew that Brian wasn’t perfect and hadn’t been willing to play up to his lover’s ego, he also didn’t think that Kinney was the monster that the rest of the family wanted to make him out to be. It was funny to Tony how they talked shit about Brian so much, but every damned time something happens, whether it was related to Brian or not, they all just expected him to drop everything and spend whatever money that was needed to get things fixed. It was something Tony detested and had been the spark that ignited his rant that last family dinner he went to. It was actually the girls that set him off, and eventually he decided to shift the subject off the Novotny family and soothe his curiosity. He was still curious about what happened with Ben and the kid that Ben had been trying to help, but he put that aside sensing that Justin had his fill of that family for the moment.

“I want to ask about the girls, because I think we both could use a break from the fucked-upness that is the Novotny family. Before I do that though, I have to ask if you and Brian got counselling after all of this. I know how much Brian hates the very idea but there’s no way you two didn’t both need it after that bullshit.”

“We did, eventually,” Justin conceded, and Tony expected the younger man to move back to where he’d been sitting on the couch but was pleased when the blond remained where he was. “It was pretty dark for a while. It was actually Blake that talked some sense into us. I have to say that while the split with Michael and Deb and that part of the family hurt, it really showed Brian just who his true friends were. I mean, we’d all known about Ted’s little crush on Michael, even through the time when he and Emmet were dating. This really killed that though.”

“Blake the drug counselor guy that Ted used to date? They got back together? When did all this go down in relation to me leaving?” Tony asked trying to place Blake. He’d heard the name while he was around but had never met the man.

“Oh right, I forgot that all happened after you left,” Justin admitted as he shifted around on Tony’s lap so they could see each other better. “I guess it was because of all of this that Blake and Ted got back together. I guess you know Ted ended up in rehab. Afterwards, he and Blake had a one-night stand, and Ted wanted to try a relationship again, but Blake thought that it was too soon. Then this shit all happened, and when the dust all settled, they decided to try again. I guess it took about a year after you left for everything to come to a head. To answer your counseling question, yes. We both went individually and together. Brian had a friend from college that he trusted who is a psychologist, Dr. Bram Allen. He and his partner, Thomas Malory, had a practice in Pitts. I went to Bram and he went to Thomas, who also did our shared sessions. Brian hated it, but it helped a lot. I think our relationship is in a much better place now than it would have been otherwise. As for the girls, shit. That’s another shitty situation.”

Justin got up for a moment, and Tony let him, watching the younger artist head to throw their empty water bottles into the recycling bin and get two more from the fridge. After wandering around for a little, while Tony watched him silently. Justin eventually came back and settled on the FBI agent’s lap once more.

“The girls kept up their mind games with Brian for about three years before Brian was willing to put his foot down. Eventually though, Lindsey cheated again, and this time Brian refused to make some sacrifice to get them back together. When it was clear that they weren’t going to get back together, Brian went to a lawyer because Lindsey was threatening to run off to Greece with her new boyfriend with Gus while Mel was saying she was going to take him to Florida so she could be near her family. When we went to court though things didn’t go the way either of them expected. Brian fessed up to his past and was honest with the judge about the things he had done as well as the counseling he’d gone though to work through all of that.”

Justin snorted and Tony could tell from the look on his face that he hadn’t been pleased with the way the girls acted. “When the decision came, the judge ended up granting custody to Brian because he was the most stable of the three and he was Gus’ father. He basically called Lindsey too flakey and self-absorbed, which considering she’s seen Gus maybe twice in the last two years because she claims it interferes with her creative process.

“Melanie got her ass chewed because the adoption agreement they talked Brian into signing wasn’t done right and the judge was really pissed off at her. He even turned everything she’d done over to the bar, which resulted in having her license suspended for like a year. He also required her to retake some ethics classes and shit before she could practice again. Needless to say, she had her reality check, and surprisingly has come around. She even moved to DC when we came here, and we agreed to give her visitation rights. That’s where Gus is right now. This is her week to have him. We agreed to one full week a month and every Wednesday. I won’t say things were miraculously changed, but things are getting there for sure, and I think having Gus with us has done wonders for Brian. I hope that you aren’t going to mind being a step-daddy.”

Tony winced at the thought and let himself gather his thoughts about the notion of having a child in his everyday life before he replied. “I would never try and come between Brian and Gus. I know what it’s like to not have a good relationship with your father, and I would never wish that on any child, let alone Gus. That being said, I’m not going to lie and say I have a lot of experience with children, or that I am very comfortable with them. The only child I see regularly is Jack, my boss’ son, and he’s like two. So, I will do my best, but don’t be surprised if I muck it up on occasion. Tell me how you feel about the whole me being undercover for the whole time we were together the first time. Tobias said that you both got the letters I wrote you, but I don’t know how you felt, or I guess I should say feel about the whole thing.”

Justin let loose a deep sigh, and Tony let him settle himself more comfortably on his lap before the younger man spoke again. “It was hard. I mean, it was kind of a brain fuck to try and get past. On one hand it felt like everything I knew about you was a lie because you weren’t really a cop, and your name wasn’t really Anthony Romano. Knowing that Brian knew almost the whole time that you were someone different was hard to get past, and I will be honest in that I was a real shit to him because of it until I worked through it. But, then I just, in my heard I guess I knew that the things that really mattered, the parts of you that make you who you are weren’t your name or even what you did for a living. It was all the things I learned while we were together, either just you and me or the three of us. So, it was hard to resolve all of that, but that’s one of the things I worked on in counseling. In the end, I realized that it didn’t matter what your name was. I accepted that while there were things I didn’t know about you, there were a lot of things that I absolutely loved, and I wanted you to be in our lives forever. It’s why we’re here Tony.”

Justin straightened up and looked Tony in the eye once more before he continued. “I love you. I know it was only a year, but not having you in our lives left a hole that just couldn’t be filled. We moved here a year ago and have worked our asses off to settle into something good before we drew you into it. All I ask is that there are no more lies between us. I need it to be open communication, even if you have to say you have something you can’t tell me.”

Tony didn’t answer right away as he was too choked up by the emotion of the moment to speak immediately. Eventually though he calmed down enough to reply. “I love you, and I promise to do my best not to keep things from you in the future. Getting a second chance means the world to me, and I will do my best not to let you down again. That being said, I want you to know that I do have something personal that I am not ready to share with you right now. Not because I don’t trust you, but because it involves Padraig and I don’t want to put you in a position. It’s…. I’m not gonna lie, Jus. It’s pretty deep and I don’t think you’d be able to not say anything. Not because I don’t think you can’t keep a secret, but because you have the biggest heart of just about anyone I’ve met and you’re incredibly honest. I think Padraig would take one look at your face and know something was going on. I’d like to be able to talk to Brian about it. He’s better at lying than you are. I’m not trying to be a dickhead when I say that it’s just the truth. If it upsets you though, I won’t do it. I have Jax I can talk to.”

Justin scrunched up his nose and seemed to study Tony before he replied. “I wanna be mad, but you’re fucking right goddamnit. It sucks ass, and not in a fun way either. It means a lot to me that you didn’t hide this. I know that with your job that you aren’t going to be able to tell us shit all the time. I just ask that you do something like this. As for Brian, I think it would mean a lot to him to have you confide in him about whatever it is. You’ll tell me as soon as you can?”

Tony nodded quickly as he squeezed Justin’s waist, which he had his arms wrapped around. “My guess is it’ll come to a head at this dinner thing that was mentioned the other night.”

“Hmm,” Justin offered absently and seemed to be in thought. So, Tony kept quiet until he spoke again. “Sean asked me today if I thought that Padraig was acting weird last night. I guess he noticed it when he and Jackson were talking with Padraig and his daughter and asked if I’d noticed anything. Shit, I get so nervous though that I didn’t really notice anything. Fucking Brian probably did though. I’m good with you talking to him. Just tell me when you can?”

“I swear,” Tony promised, and he pulled Justin back down until they were snuggled together again. The topic shifted to safer artsy things, and the two men spent the next couple of hours talking about whatever random topics that came to mind until Brian came home drawing them downstairs.

That night, Tony slept once more between the two, sated and happy as he looked forward to spending the next morning with Brian.

~*~~*~ ~*~~*~ ~*~~*~

When Tony woke up the next morning, he found himself alone in bed. He could faintly smell the scent of coffee, and peeking at the clock on Brian’s night stand told him that Justin was most likely already at work. How they’d both gotten up without him noticing he didn’t know, but it suggested he was more worn out than he thought from his drive. “Or maybe you just trust them that much,” a voice that sounded not so strangely like Jax whispered in his head. Deciding that it wasn’t a big deal either way, except for the fact that he didn’t get his good morning kiss from Justin, Tony crawled out of bed and headed, naked, into the bathroom to wash the previous night’s activities off of his body and get ready for the day.

Once he was bathed and dressed in something comfortable and casual enough for lounging around the loft, Tony headed out into the main loft area. He was a little surprised to find Brian puttering around in the kitchen and couldn’t resist coming up behind him. Wrapping his arms around the other man’s waste, Tony pressed a kiss to the ad exec’s cheek and smiled at the happy chuckle he got in return.

“The coffee is fresh. I made a new pot after the not so sunny Sunshine left us this morning. There are a few kinds of creamer in the fridge. I’ve got some bacon in the oven, and I hope you were in the mood for a scrambled omelet. There’s Justin’s English toasting bread, my whole wheat bread, or some English muffins to make toast with if you want.” After pressing another kiss to Brian’s cheek, Tony wandered off pulling out the Coffee-mate Sugar Free Hazelnut Liquid Coffee Creamer as well as Brian’s guava juice after shaking it to get the other man’s attention and receiving a nod of approval. Then after putting some of the English toasting bread into the toaster and going back to pull out the butter he’d forgotten the first time, Tony settled at the island on one of the stools to watch Brian work.

“How long ago did Jus leave?” Tony asked sipping his coffee and sighing happily at the caffeine jolt it gave him.

“Not too long ago,” Brian murmured and looked to be checking the time on the microwave. “About half an hour. He said you’re welcome to use the studio if you want.”

“Nah,” Tony turned down wrinkling his nose, “I’d rather spend the morning with you. I figure we can find some old movie on tv to watch and we can chat while it’s on. The whole point of this is to spend time with you individually, and if I am holed up in the studio upstairs, I’m not doing that.”

When Brian turned and flashed him a shy smile, Tony knew he’d made the right choice. In fact, he was surprised that he was allowed to see it and figured that it spoke to how well the man’s counselling sessions had gone if he was readily sharing such emotions and feelings. “Do you need to work? Justin said something about some files or something you’d mentioned.”

“Not today,” Tony denied and sniffed happily at the plate that was set in front of him. Brian had chopped up some ham, peppers, mushrooms and put them in the eggs with some cheddar and maybe Monterey jack cheese. It smelled heavenly, and Tony dug in scooping some of the egg mixture onto the crunchy bread and taking a bite. Letting loose a moan of pleasure, Tony gave Brian a thumbs up of approval.

“I’m not the greatest cook,” Brian admitted with a shrug, “but I learned to do breakfast shit. It was necessary once we got primary custody of Gus. Justin wasn’t always available at meal times always, and it wasn’t like I could feed a child at 8PM. Plus, Justin’s taken to painting up in the studio late at night after we’ve fucked cause sometimes it’s all the quite time he can get. So, I try and let him sleep in on the mornings he doesn’t have to be at the gallery first thing.”

“Sounds like you’re adapting to fulltime fatherhood well,” Tony commented, and Brian just shrugged again.

“Sometimes it doesn’t feel so, but I wouldn’t change it for anything,” the Pittsburg native admitted. “I was scared shitless at the very thought of having Gus all the time, or almost all of the time, but it was necessary. I wasn’t going to even take the chance that Gus could fall into something like I was raised in. Lindsey was a train wreck, and once she realized that Justin was here to stay, her little WASP façade cracked revealing her inner cunt. Melanie had always been a bitch, and never fucking watched her tongue around my son. Once I decided that I wasn’t going to just let things stand when they fell apart again, there wasn’t really any other decision to make but for Justin and I to take him in fulltime.”

“That’s awesome, Brian,” Tony said after swallowing a bite of his breakfast. Picking up a piece of his bacon, he let it dangle midair as he studied the man across the island from him. “I’m sure you’re a wonderful father. Even the first time I was around I could see how much you love your son. I know you were worried about the past repeating itself, but I just don’t see that happening with you.”

“Yeah, therapy helped work through some of that, and make sure that it didn’t happen,” Brian admitted almost reluctantly, and Tony just nodded. “As much as I hate to admit it, the shit helped. It even helped me figure out why I was so fucking pissed off at you even though I’d known mostly all along that you weren’t a dirty cop.”

“Can I ask why then?” Tony inquired easily before taking another bite of his breakfast.

“It was the leaving thing,” Brian confessed with a sigh. “It was easier to be pissed at you because you supposedly lied to us and were a fraud than to admit it was because I cared about you more than I wanted to. Even if I didn’t want to admit it to myself, I knew that it would fucking hurt a shit ton when you left, but my ego didn’t want to admit to it. It’s the same reason why I didn’t want to listen to you about my friendship with Michael being unhealthy and why I ignored shit that was right in front of my face with him for so long. A lot of my childhood, he and Debbie were all I had, and I was scared shitless to give that up for people I hadn’t known as long. Love had never been something I could really depend on before. So, it was hard to admit that maybe I needed to let Michael go and distance myself from Deb some but embrace you and Justin. Then suddenly you have to leave and fuck, I’m alone again. Only I wasn’t and it wasn’t until therapy that I worked through that. The idea to move to be near you actually came up pretty early in counselling, and everything after that was to work through my shit so a three of us thing could work without my issues and Justin’s issues getting in the way.”

“That’s awesome,” Tony praised before he polished off the last of his coffee. Once he was done and his plate clean, he grabbed both and took them to the sink before returning to his stool to drink his guava juice and finish their talk. “Therapy isn’t much fun, but it’s necessary. I’ve not done anything as in depth as you and Justin, but I do comply with the FBI shrink when it’s needed. With my current position that’s a lot more than a normal agent. Always having to be in the head of the worst of the worst gets to you. I am glad to hear you have forgiven me for having to leave. I hope you know that I wouldn’t have done it if I had a way around it. The Don was pretty clear though that it was the only way you would be safe. If it was just myself that I had to worry about, I might have risked it. You and Justin are worth it, but someone would have eventually come after you and Jus to prove a point had I stuck around, and that’s a chance I couldn’t take.”

“We get it,” Brian assured as he moved to make himself a cup of coffee and grabbed Tony a bottle of water after he saw the juice glass emptied. By unspoken agreement, the two men moved to the living room, and settled down on the couch with an old black and white movie playing before their discussion continued.

“Em can’t wait to see you. He’s all aflutter about needing to apologize to you for not believing us that you weren’t that bad.”

Tony snorted and gave a grin as he thought about Brian and Justin’s flamboyant friend. “Auntie Em has nothing to apologize for. I thought it was awesome that he was willing to look out for you. Unlike Michael and Lindsey whose snide remarks came from not wanting to lose their influence over you, and Mel who suffered from a cast of terminal bitchiness and constant anger, Emmet truly cared about you guys. He was just looking out for your safety and I respect that. Ted was such a mess; I’ve completely written off anything that happened with him and chalked it up to the drugs.”

“Ted and his partner Blake have become close friends,” Brian said during a commercial break. “Along with Em of course. Justin and I owe Blake more than we can ever repay for what he did saving Sunshine. I don’t think I’ll ever fully get over not seeing how fucked up Michael was that he’d set something like that up. I mean, I’ve worked past it as much as I can, but I’m not sure I’ll ever fully forgive myself for not seeing it. Especially since it feels like I should have. That crap between Michael and Justin wasn’t always just when I wasn’t around. I just didn’t want to deal with it, and that ball-less crap doesn’t fly with me. When I think what that sick fuck could have done to Justin if Blake hadn’t been there, it still gives me nightmares. You and Justin and Gus are my entire fucking world.

**Author's Note:**

> If this story is completed, this post will be deleted without warning


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